


Get Back Up

by orphan_account



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coma, Gen, Guilt, Gwen Stacy Lives, Gwen-centric, Hospitalization, Injury, Injury Recovery, Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:51:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6134330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen falls and she knows she's about to die. This moment, suspended in time, as she drops towards the ground, as Peter launches himself after her. Even if he catches her, she's probably dead. She helped save the city, twice, and this is her story ends. </p><p>And then the moment is gone. There's a thwip, a snap, and the world goes black. </p><p>-</p><p>In which Gwen Stacy wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get Back Up

Gwen falls and she knows she's about to die. This moment, suspended in time, as she drops towards the ground, as Peter launches himself after her. Even if he catches her, she's probably dead. She helped save the city, twice, and this is her story ends. 

And then the moment is gone. There's a thwip, a snap, and the world goes black. 

-

Gwen Stacy becomes aware of the beeping of a heart monitor first. She doesn't place it at first, can't think through the shadowed muddle of thoughts that rise to the surface. She hurts all over, like every part of her body is bruised. There's a pit in her stomach and she's so hungry, it hurts. Something is tickling her nose, and it feels like there is something on her face. 

The last thing she becomes aware of is the tube down her throat.

She opens her eyes, but everything is too bright and blurry. She looks around, desperately, her hand feeling heavy as she tries to lift it off the bed, towards her face. She needs it out, but she doesn't have the strength. She twitches her fingers and her toes, but its so much effort. 

She tries again, one more time, using the railing of the bed to help her when she gets tired. She makes it to her chest and that's where her strength gives out. Her arm lays across her chest, here fingers just barely touching the mass of tubs and pipes running into her. 

A wave of fear washes over her. 

She doesn't know why she's here.

-

When she wakes again, there's a woman sitting next to her bed. She looks so much older than she was before, her face worn and ragged. There are shadows under her eyes and her hair has a greasy shine to it. She looks like she hasn't slept in a long time. 

Gwen reaches for her, her whole arm shaking as she slips it between the bars of the bed, her hand unsteady and heavy. 

It takes her mother a minute to notice and when she does, something startling vulnerable breaks out across her face. She grabs her hand, cradling it as she comes to her feet, leaning over her. 

Her lips tremble and after a moment fresh tears gather in her eyes. She touches her face, the sensation surprisingly clear. 

“Gwen, baby,” she whispers. “Everything's okay. You'll be okay,” she promises. 

It hadn't even occurred to her to think otherwise. 

 

-

The next time she wakes up, there's a shadow lurking at the corner of her room. It's much darker, the colossus shadows of buildings blocking out the sunset. She hears her breathing, this time just her and no more tubes. The heart monitor is still there though, or maybe it's an IV drip. Moving is harder, but at least she has a little more energy to expend on it all. 

It takes her eyes a moment to adjust and that's when she sees him. He's leaning against the window, staring out over the city. He's wearing a hoody and jeans, and his backpack is sitting in the chair. He's slumped in. 

She can read his guilt in the set of his shoulders, in the way he seems to ignore her. But he couldn't help but be here. 

She wonders when he'll figure out that he's not the one dragging her into these things. That she runs to it just as fast as he tries to run away. He doesn't realize that this city belongs to her, just as much at it belongs to him. It runs through her blood, put there by her father. 

The city, the people, they were just as much hers to protect as his. They just went about it in different ways. 

When she's better, when she can get out of bed and he can't escape through a window, she'll say it clearly. 

She knew the risks, just like her father did. And maybe she almost died to protect, like him, but it was her own choice. She choose to put herself there, choose to associate with Peter Parker and one Spider-Man. 

Maybe he wasn't cursed at getting the people he cared about hurt. Maybe he was blessed to care and be cared for by people who wouldn't let criminals rule their city, their lives. 

Maybe he just needed a kick in the ass to get him to see things differently. 

-

She finds it odd, but not totally strange, that her nurse turns out to be May Parker. She wonders what strings the woman had to pull to be there. It makes her smile. 

The doctors explained in terms she'd normally understand. The painkillers were make everything harder to grasp though, so he had to explain again, in simpler terms. 

She had received a concussion. She hadn't hit the ground, but whiplash sure as hell did a number on her. She almost died. She wasn't even expected to survive, but then a rather large donation had come into the hospital, one that allowed them to buy some very good medical equipment, the type that had only recently hit the market. 

The type that came after SHIELD crashed into the river. 

She's been a coma for two weeks. She probably noticed some weakness in her limbs, some stiffness and pain. It would take her a while to rebuild her strength, to get back on her feet. She'd need a lot of psychical therapy. 

But she was alive. There was always that. 

-

Peter comes back, after she wakes up, but only ever when he thinks she's going to be asleep. He's skittish. 

That doesn't stop her from catching him though, one night when he comes in and slumps down in the chair next to his bed. She tries to snake her hand out and grab him, but she's rather slow. Even so, she still gets the surprise on him, and he startles. 

“Gwen,” he whispers, loudly. “I didn't know you were awake or I wouldn't have come.” 

“I've noticed,” she laughs. “You've been avoiding me.” 

A bright, red flush comes over his face. He's ashamed and embarrassed. She can officially add that to her life accomplishments list. Made a Superhero blush. 

“I'm sorry,” he says. “I didn't know if you'd want me to be here.” 

“Peter, your my best friend. Of course I want you here.” 

“Even after what happened?” 

“Peter,” she says, keeping her voice low but firm. “I am my own person, and I will make my own choices. Sometimes those choices will lead to me getting hurt. You need to accept that, need to brand it in your mind.” 

“Gwen,” he starts. 

“Peter,” she says again. “I would follow you anywhere. I love you, but that's not the only reason. I'd follow you because I know what you are doing is right. My father knew it was right.” 

The emotions warred across his face. But there is something shaky there too. He wants to believe. 

She pushes just a little bit further. “This is my city too. I will protect it, just like you.” 

He brought her hand up to his face. She felt the wetness beneath his eyes. “Okay, Gwen, okay.” 

She thought he might finally understand. 

-

She's been in the hospital for a month before she finally gets to go to the bathroom alone. Every step is a struggle and she almost falls. The trip back is a thousand times worse, but she struggles through it. She won't be running any marathons soon. But there is something powerful about just being able to move. She slides into bed and lies on her side. 

She thinks about how lucky she is. She looks at the city outside and knows, it's still there because of Peter. Because of her. 

It makes something warm settle inside of her. She hadn't felt much of anything the first time. Her father had been dead and all there had been was despair. It still hurts, but she thinks he'd be proud of her. 

Angry, screaming, worried... But proud. 

-

She's been in the hospital for a month and a half before the woman, one she's seen several times on TV, comes to visit her. Gwen is sitting in the chair, next to the window. She wants to go outside, but it's too far for her to walk. They had given her a wheelchair until she got back all her mobility, but even that tires her arms. She feels like a limp noddle being taught to walk. 

She tries to stand when the woman comes in, but she smiles softly and gestures back to the chair. 

“Hello, Ms. Stacy,” Pepper Potts says as she takes the only other chair in the room. “I'm Pepper Potts, C.E.O. Of Stark Industries.”

Gwen knows who she is. The whole world probably knows who she is. She shakes Gwen's hand and sits down in the chair across from her, pulling out a tablet. 

Gwen tries to think of a polite way to say, “why are you here?” But can't think of one. 

“I'm here on behalf of Tony Stark. He'd be here personally, but he had other things to attend to.” 

Gwen gets the feeling that he just didn't want to. 

“We've recently started expanding our Research and Development Department into the medical field.” 

“Why? SI has always been technology based. Why now?” 

Pepper thinks about it for a moment. “I'd like to say because there is money to be made. That we need to further our reach to maintain ourselves. Giving up weapons technology was a big deal. It was the right thing to do, but the company has suffered.”

“But that's not what you're saying.” Gwen questions. 

“Tony Stark wants to save the world. He just doesn't like people knowing it.” Pepper smiles a little. “We think you'd be a great asset to the company.” 

“What?” Gwen asks, honestly surprised. She hadn't expected that. 

“We know you worked closely with Mr. Connors and that someone made an antidote when he tried to release his toxin.”

“That could have been anyone.” Gwen says, trying to keep her voice from wavering. 

“True. Even so, you have made yourself a place in the field of Science. Being accepted into a rather prestigious program, as well.” 

She had been, but she's about two months too late to actually go. She didn't know if she'd ever catch up, even if she did manage to get there. 

“Why approach me know?” She demands. 

Pepper seems to be looking for an answer. “We were going to approach you, before you left for London. But then you were injured and we decided to wait until you were well.” 

“You basically offering me a job, based on a hunch?” 

Pepper Potts pauses. “People like you don't come around everyday. We don't like to let opportunities like that pass.” 

Gwen lets that sink in. She knows there is more to the story, that they had to suspect more than what they are saying. Then is a lot of evidence pointing to her having been involved with the strange things that happened at Oscorp. Her being an assistant and her school being attacked. Her father dying. An antidote being made. (She wonders what ever happened to the footage from that night. There had to be cameras in the lab.) 

She wonders, for just a moment, if they think she's Spider-Man. Or if they suspect she knows him. 

A job was a job though. It wasn't every day a billionaire offered her a job at one of the biggest companies in the world. 

“What exactly is this job,” Gwen asks, settling more comfortably into the chair. 

She'll listen, she'll say she'll think about it. But she already knows what her answer is going to be. It's an easy decisions. There were so many reasons to say yes and so few to say no. 

Mostly, New York is her home. Even when things were going good, but especially when they were going bad. She had planned to leave, but she had always planned on coming back. 

Now, she doesn't have to leave at all.


End file.
